We’re happy to announce our ‘official’ launch in Italy today, though the community there has been growing strong and steady for quite a while under the tutelage of some very active users. Similar to our launch in France and Germany a few weeks ago, this launch will also feature a developed road grid, which we’ll merge with data that local users have already contributed on their own.

In order to turn the grid into a fully functioning map, Italian wazers will just need to validate road directions by driving on the roads themselves, and add road names via waze’s online map editor. When the whole community gets involved, as we expect many of the Italians to do – like they’ve been doing for a while now, the entire process is incredibly quick,  and within just a couple of weeks, the Italian maps will be fully navigable and super accurate.

We thank all you Italians for your hard work up to this point, and we look forward to seeing how your community develops now that the base maps will make waze even more valuable. Keep us up to date and let us know if there’s anything you need…happy wazing!

Though fledgling driving communities have already developed in both Germany and France, today, we’re happy to announce our official launch in these countries. Bonjour and Guten tag, friends!

German and French wazers can now benefit from:

• a brand new road grid
• UI and voice prompts in their own languages
• a road full of ‘goodies’ to help new users rack up points as they help improve the navigability of the map in their areas
• AND…treasure chests that may contain Amazon giftcards!

Road grids that will quickly become navigable maps

Up until recently, users in these areas needed to record roads entirely from scratch, however, we’ve received access to a comprehensive set of German and French road grids, which we’ll merge with data that local users have already contributed on their own, and – poof! – these communities will be off to a fantastic start. All that’s missing in order to turn the grid into a fully functioning map is for local wazers to validate road directions by driving on the roads themselves, and to add road names via waze’s online map editor.

Road goodies and virtual treasure chests for extra points and prizes!

Starting today, French and German users will find that most roads will be marked with plenty of ‘road munching’ dots – GPS points that, when driven over, set the road’s direction, helping to increase map quality and navigability, while providing them with tons of extra points. The process of validation is incredibly quick – within just a couple of weeks, these maps will be fully navigable and highly accurate. We’ll also be adding candy and cupcake ‘road goodies’ – small icons worth 3 and 5 bonus points, respectively – to the map in areas where the system needs validation.

…And don’t forget the best part: waze’ll be distributing VIRTUAL TREASURE CHESTS (!) on the roads that, when driven over, have the potential to reward users with an Amazon gift card – so French and German wazers, get out there and find ‘em!

What’s to come?

Stay tuned to the waze blog for the official launch of driving communities in other areas…we’re working on a bunch of stuff that you’re gonna want to know about…

Pretty kewl. Laptop magazine selected us as one of their best mobile start ups of 2010. Not a bad way to start off the day!